Natural disasters often result in a lack of food or clean water for the first 48-72 hours after the disaster occurs as a result of infrastructure damage, for example, power plants, water treatment plants, roads, ports and runways. Airdrops of humanitarian aid supplies such as medical supplies, food and clothing provide needed relief in these situations. In a related area, forestry fire fighters are generally resupplied with food and water by aerial delivery of multiple 50 pound bundles. Various military ground operations may require resupply of ammunition, clothing and rations through aerial delivery, and both military and commercial organizations may seek to provide information to a population through aerial delivery.
Present airdrop capabilities, in particular, humanitarian food and water drops, suffer from drawbacks including a lack of ability to deliver water and a large injury risk posed by delivery mechanisms including containers, skid boards and large food items, for example, Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) or Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs). The U.S. and British armies and private industry have used impact attenuators in several forms for aerial delivery. For example, external struts comprised of inner and outer cylinders that force hydraulic fluid through an orifice to dampen impact have been used on spacecraft capsules as well as on aircraft main landing gear. These systems provide great control over the force/time curve, however they are expensive, complicated, and beyond the expertise of the average rigger. Airbags have also been used in several military applications. The British have used a specially designed platform, the Medium Stress Platform (MSP), with recesses to house deflated airbags for cargo airdrop. Upon exit from the aircraft, the airbags inflate and attenuate the load during impact. This system utilizes a fixed venting area, resulting in a peaked force/time curve, where a “rectangular” profile is desired. The rectangular force/time curve can be obtained with airbags using variable venting areas, adding to the cost and complexity of the system. As much of the stroke of the airbag is used to build the pressure, the system is often excessively large, leading to possible hazards on the ground, including re-inflation of the airbag and payload roll over. In addition, the aircraft-platform interface has to be modified to accept these platforms.
Present delivery systems also suffer from clumping, where items have a tendency to clump together and fail to disperse over the drop zone. Furthermore, items that clump together generally fall faster and experience a much harder impact, reducing their survivability and usefulness after landing and creating a danger for those on the ground in the drop zone.
It would be advantageous to utilize an airdrop system that overcomes these and other problems and safely disperses various items directly over a population.